Bottle-capping tool



M. O. KASSON.

BOTTLE CAPPING TOOL.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-27, 1920- 1,395,499, Patented Nov. 1, 1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

M. O. KASSON.

BOTTLE CAPPING TOOL. APPLICATION FILED SEPT.27,1920.

1 195,499. Patented Nov. 1, 1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

& Ami a J/M K o for initially UNITED s'rA s MAHLON O. KASSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BOTTLE-CAPPING TOOL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Nov. 1, 1921.

Application filed September 27, 1920. Serial No. 413,005.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MAHLON O. KASSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Bottle-Capping Tool, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to iinprovements in bottle capping tools or devices and has special reference to an improved tool for closing what is commonly known as a crown-seal upon a bottle.

crown-seal comprises a disk of thin metal having a crimped, flanged edge and containing a disk of cork or other yielding material. The crimped edge is adapted to be formed beneath an annular external rib at the mouth of a bottle to hold the seal on the bottle against internal pressure.

It sometimes occurs that the cork disk ,is

slightly thicker than it should be, or tliellcap is placed in position bottle rib is slightly larger than usual, under either of which conditions it is difficult, if not impossible, to seal the bottle with the tools now in general use. I provide means compressing the cork disk before the bending of the crimped edge occurs and which means assists in forcing the tool off of the cap after the bottle is sealed.

The object of my invention is to provide a tool for this purpose of the form known as a lever tool having a base for receiving a bottle, and a lever for applying a seal, which tool shall be arranged to be collapsed into a small compass for packing and shipping; which shall have means for adjusting the distance between the base and the capping cup to accommodate bottles of different heights; which shall be capable of applying a relatively great cap closing force by the use of a relatively short which shall be capable of being produced at relatively low manufacturing cost.

For a clear apprehension of my invention, attention is directed to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification and in which Figure 1 is an end elevation of the device in operating condition;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section substant ally on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the tool;

Fig. 4; is a horizontal section on the line 44 of Fig. 2;

lever; and

Fig. is an enlarged vertical central sectlonal view of the cap closing cup; and

Fig. 6 IS a plan view of the tool in collapsed condition.

In said drawings 1 is a rectangular base upon which the bottle 2, to be capped, is adapted to be positioned.

A bottle of the kind to which this invention applles is provided with an annular external rib 3 at its mouth.

The cap or seal 4, which is adapted to besecured'to the bottle by the tool, is formed from a disk of sheet metal in the form of a shallow cup having a crimped edge 4 and is provided with a cork or similar yielding disk 5 within the cap. The cork disk is adapted to be held tightly against the rim of the mouth of the bottle by the securing of the crlmped edge of the cap around beneath the rib 3 on the bottle neck.

In applying such a cap with this tool the upon the bottle and by means of a forming cup, the crimped edge of the cap is formed down around and beneath the rib 3. 1

For this purpose I provide a metallic cup 6, and I provide simple means for properly positioning the cup above the bottle and for forcing the cup down upon the bottle. The cup 6 is rigidly carried on the lower end of a vertical rack 7, comprising two parallel strap-like bars 8, each provided with an outward projection or by which it is secured to the bottom wall 10 of the cup by any suitable means such as rivets l1. hese members 8 are received within a hollow head 12 made up of two rectangular side plates 13 having their forward edges 14 bent inwardly toward each other to form vertical edge flanges which provide back bars for the rack members. The opposed edges of these flanges are separated to provide a vertical slot 15 in which a hand lever 16.:swings up and down.

The rear edges 17 of the plates 13 are turned inwardly to form guides for a standard 18 upon which the head is mounted for vertical adjustment. The middle portions of the plates are formed outwardly to provide depressions or pockets to receive thin disklike pinion members 19 which are secured by rivets 20, one on each side of the lever 16, and have teeth adapted to mesh with the teeth of the rack members. The lever with the\ pinion members is pivotally mounted in foot 9 at its lower endthe head 12 by a horizontal pivot 21 surrounded by a tubular thiinble 22 which is bound tightly between the side plates 13, the

thimble forming a. bearing for the lever. The plates 13 are rigidly connected top and bottoln by horizontal rivets 23, spacer blocks 21 being interposed to hold the plates in proper relative position and spaced apart to permit the head to move freely on the standard 18, the lever with the pinion members to turn freely on the thimble and the rack 7 to slide freely up and down.

The standard 18 is supported in vertical position upon a collapsible strap metal structure comprising a pair of opposed outwardly inclined leg members 21 in transverse alinement with the standard and a pair of outwardly and rearwardly inclined bracing members 25 which are removably secured at their upper ends to the lower end of the standard by a transverse bolt 26, and are pivotally secured at their ends to the upstanding lugs 27 of a U-shaped member 28. The member 28 is secured to the top of the base 1 by rivets 29 or some similar securing means.

The upper ends of the legs 24 are also secured to the standard by the bolt 26 and in order to rigidly retain the standard in vertical position these legs 24 are further secured to the standard at a point below the bolt 26 by a riveted pivot 30.

The legs 24.- are secured to the base by means'of a second U-shaped member 31, having upstanding projections 32 at its ends adjacent to the side edges of the base and in transverse alinement with the standard 18, and are connected to the projections 32 by riveted pivots 33. To collapse the frame consisting of the several legs and the standard 18, the bolt 26 is first removed and the standard and the legs 24 can then be swung down forwardly into contact with the base and then the standard itself can be swung over rearwardly upon the pivot 30 into contact with the base, as best shown in Fig. 6. The rear braces can then be swung down alongside of'the standard 18, as shown in Fig. 6. The head 12, which has been previously removed from the standard, together with the lever rack and cup can be placed in close relation to the base and the other 'folded members for packing and shipping, as indicated in dotted line Fig. 6.

v To adjust and hold the head 12 at suitable heights relatively to the bottles to be capped, I provide a series of holes 34in the standard 18 and similar cooperating holes 35 in the side plates 13 of the head 12 to receive a locking pin 36. Preferably the holes 34 are spaced longitudinally of the standard 18 three-quarters of an inch, and the holes 35 in the head are spaced substantially one inch and, by the selection of suitable holes for the reception of the pin 35,

d -isk tightly upon the bottle top I provide iitcup-shaped disk 37 within the cup 6 which is hung upon the lower end of a central rod 38, which projects up through a central hole in the bottom .10 of the cup 6. The rod 38, in the form shown, is a bolt the head of which holds the disk 37 in place and the threaded end of which is engaged bg a nut 39 between the rack members 8 a ovo the bottom 10 of the cup 6.

The disk 37 is formed to receive the head of the bolt so that it does not project below the lower surface of the disk and consequently does not contact with the cap in the closing operation. The edge of the disk 37 1s up-turned to provide a retainer for a relatively'stifi' compression spring 40 seated on the disk 37 and at its upper end against the bottom 10 of the cup 6.

The bolt 38 allows the disk 37 to rise above its normal position and the spring 40 opposes the rising of the disk. The disk 37 at its lower normal position relatively to the cup is positioned within the cup to permlt the periphery of the cup to be readily centered upon the cap.

In using the deveice the bottle is positloned below the cup 6, the sealing cap is placed on the bottle, and then the cap is forced down by the lever 16. The initial contact isreceived by the disk 37 which, as the cup descends, rises within same, the pressure on'the disk 37 being exerted upon the upper surface of the cap and setting the cap firmly down on the bottle and compressing the cork disk to some extent, after which the further descent of the cup closes the crimped edge of the cap around beneath the rib 3.

This initial compression of the cork is of a speclal value if the cap is slightly too small, or the rib on the bottle slightly larger than usual, or if the cork disk is slightly thicker than usual; any of such unusual conditions preventing the easy application of the cap. But with my device, however, the caps can be applied substantially with equal ease even under adverse conditions.

After the cap has been applied the cup is lifted by lifting the handle 16. If it should happen that the cap is hard to close it will engage tightly within the cup and when this occurs the cup is ordinarily hard to remove. The spring 40 and the disk 37 assist 1n pushing the cup off of the cap and as it is pulling off force is applied cendiameter pinions can be used, thus greatly,

increasing the leverage with an equal length of lever, or permitting the use of a relatively short lever. I find that I am enabled, by my improved device, to apply very tightly fitting caps with a lever not more than eight inches long, whereas in substantially all other devices now in use such caps cannot be easily applied even with levers as long as twelve inches.

As many modifications of my invention will readily suggest themselves to one skilled in the art, I do not limit or confine my invention to the specific details of construction and operation herein shown and described.

I claim 1. In a device of the kind described, a vertically adjustable head carrying a cap clos ing cup, a lever pivoted in said head, the head formed of two side plates held rigidly together, plate pinion members secured to the lever, one on each side thereof concentric with the pivot of the lever, rack members guided between the plates, one on each side of the lever and meshing with the pinion members, and a cap closing cup secured on the lower ends of the rack members.

2. In a machine of the kind described, a vertically supported standard, a lever device vertically guided and movable on the standard, the standard having holes uniformly spaced for receiving a pin for holding the lever device at different heights, and the device provided with at least two pin holes spaced diiferently from the holes in the standard so that the several positions at which the lever device can be positioned are greatly multiplied and are closer together than the spacing of their set of holes.

3. In a machine of the kind described, an

elongated base upon which a bottle can be placed for capping, a light vertical framework attached to and rising from one end of the base to 'a height greater than the length of the base and adapted to removably carry suitable capping elements on its upper part, said frame being formed of parts adapted to be partly disconnected and folded down upon the base within the top area thereof for storing and shipping purposes.

4. In a bottle capping device having a flat substantially rectangular base for supporting a bottle to be capped, a cap sealing device, a readily collapsible frame secured to one end of the base and adapted to hold the cap sealing device at suitable heights, the frame being collapsible into substantially parallel relation with the base and. within the horizontal dimensions thereof for packing and shipping purposes.

5. In a device of the kind described a base, a strap metal standard and braces for supporting a bottle capping device at a suitable height above the base, the standard and braces being readily collapsible down upon the base while still connected therewith into an arrangement wherein their extreme height above the base is substantially within the width of the widest member of the frame. I

6. In a device of thekind described an elongated rectangular rigid base, a strap metal structure rising from the base and adapted to hold a capping device at a suitable height, the structure being'adapted to be partly disconnected and to be collapsed down on to the base each part thereof adapted to swing down into edge contact with the base and the several parts adapted to be arranged within the horizontal area of the base as and for the purpose specified.

7. In a device of the kind described, a head carrying a cap closing cup, parallel rack members rising from the cup and guided in the head, a lever pivoted on the head and movable up and down between the rack members, and pinions rigid with the lever and meshing with the rack members as and for the purpose specified.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 24th day of September, 1920.

MAHLON O. KASSON. 

